Two days after Ohio Republican gubernatorial candidate Heather Hill abruptly dropped her running mate 17 days before the May 5 primary, the split between Hill and ousted lieutenant governor candidate Stuart Moats has spiraled into a public brawl playing out across Facebook, text message screenshots, and a string of YouTube videos that grew more personal by the hour.
Hill has accused Moats of inappropriate touching, of disrespecting his own wife in front of campaign advisors, and of using a racial slur. Moats has denied those claims and gone on the attack himself — calling Hill “a terrible person” with “delusion and mental issues,” using a derogatory slur against her husband, and attacking her appearance in graphic sexual terms. Between them: leaked text messages arguing over a $180,000-a-year compensation deal, and a Moats apology video for a separate campaign line of attack on a rival gubernatorial candidate’s religion.
All of it dropped between Saturday evening and Sunday morning — nearly two weeks into Ohio’s early voting period, with ballots listing Hill and Moats as a joint ticket already in voters’ hands.
Hill’s allegations
In a Facebook post Saturday evening, Hill laid out a detailed set of accusations against Moats. She wrote that Moats had been “warned several times to stop pulling me close to him and putting his arm around me during photo shoots and videos.” She said that at a Friday campaign event, Moats “made many disrespectful comments about his wife, making our female campaign advisors uncomfortable, and leery.”
Hill went further in both the post and a follow-up comment, claiming Moats had deliberately waited to act until the final days before the primary.
“We believe this is absolutely not a coincidence that he waited until right before the primary to pull this stunt,” Hill wrote. “Politics is dirty, but we have to rise above it.”
In a reply to her own post, she added: “I promise you this, this was not an accident that he pulled this stunt right before the primary.”
Hill did not name any outside campaign or actor and did not offer evidence to support the suggestion that the timing was orchestrated.
A separate graphic posted by the campaign stated it “does not tolerate or support racial slurs, abusive language, insubordination, backstabbing nor business irresponsibility / violations.” Hill went on to accuse Moats of calling her a “[n-word] bitch,” a claim Moats has publicly denied.
Moats fires back
Moats denied Hill’s allegations in a statement Saturday and launched his own personal attack.
“Heather is attacking me on social media … doing what she does best, making up complete lies and portraying herself as a victim,” Moats said. “She has zero integrity and is a terrible person, but I’m not going to air out the details. I truly hope she seeks counseling for her delusion and mental issues.”
Mental health advocates have long warned that invoking a political opponent’s mental state as an insult stigmatizes mental illness. Moats did not elaborate on what specifically he was referring to.
Sunday: a second, harsher video
By Sunday afternoon, Moats had posted another video — this one significantly more personal and crude than anything either candidate had said publicly a day earlier.
Opening with his signature “Howdy ho Ohio” greeting, Moats called Hill a “deranged lunatic narcissist” and accused her of responding to his initial criticism by launching “a nuclear explosion” of his character, businesses, and marriage.
Moats directly disputed Hill’s allegation that he had repeatedly put his arm around her during campaign photo shoots — but did so while using an ableist slur against Hill’s husband.
“We had two photo shoots where her half retarded husband was the one taking the pictures,” Moats said, using a derogatory term for people with cognitive disabilities. “Trust me, there is no way on earth that I would pull you in close to me or put my arm around you, especially in the manner that your delusional lunatic mind has made up.”
Moats then pivoted to a series of attacks on Hill’s appearance, saying she was “physically disgusting.”
“No one, even with a handful of blue pills, would be able to actually do anything with you,” Moats said. “It’s that repulsive. And the only thing more disgusting than you physically is what’s on the inside.”
He added: “Your soul is black. You are disgusting on the inside. I hope you get professional help for the delusional thoughts that you have.”
Later in the video, Moats mocked images on Hill’s campaign materials: “If you’re going to lie to Ohioans or to anybody, try to make it at least a little bit believable. Even your AI generated pictures still don’t have you attractive.”
Moats also raised — and then declined to pursue — the possibility of a defamation suit.
“I’ve had so many people this morning text me and say I should sue you for defamation,” Moats said. “That’s not my character. But come on, Heather. People aren’t stupid. They can see through your lies. Just go away.”
The $180,000 texts
Hill’s Saturday posts also included screenshots of what she said were text message exchanges between the two candidates.
In one exchange, Hill writes to Moats: “If I’m correct, you stood by my side a lot and you also did several other things with them. Will you please give the same package where you will receive a pay making about $180,000 a year plus 2% commission while you will receive a job … who will be in charge of fundraising.”
Moats replies: “I’m not a fundraiser Heather. I didn’t fundraise for my own campaign — because I could see how difficult raising money was going to be. I’m not a campaign manager. You told me on day 1 you were interviewing a campaign manager.”
A later screenshot shows Moats using an expletive telling Hill to leave him alone, calling her “delusional,” and saying he is blocking her number. Another shows Moats writing: “Wow! Definitely never ever expected that out of you. Very surprised. I will not contact you. Absolutely heartbroken!”
The full context of the compensation dispute is not clear from the screenshots Hill made public. Neither campaign has released additional details about the terms of Moats’ role or the source of the figures.
The atheist video
Before Sunday’s escalation, Moats had posted a different, much calmer video to YouTube on Saturday — one that made no mention of the personal dispute and instead offered an apology for a separate Hill campaign line of attack.
“The campaign that I was part of really put out some falsities, some things that just simply were not true about another candidate,” Moats said in the video. “When you’re calling someone an atheist and they clearly say otherwise, who are you to continue to put that rhetoric out there?”
Moats did not name the candidate. The other two Republicans on the May 5 primary ballot are biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, who is Hindu, and Tiffin native Casey Putsch, who describes himself on his campaign website as “your Christian, America First candidate for Ohio governor.”
“Our campaign has taken a lot of missteps,” Moats said. “One of them is falsely accusing another candidate of some stuff that just wasn’t true. And even once it was found out to be false, it was still put out there over and over. So I don’t agree with that.”
17 days and a ballot problem
Hill has said she intends to remain in the race and is not conceding. She said her campaign is “working with the S.O.S. office to make the replacement legal,” referring to the Ohio Secretary of State, and that further information would be released soon.
What that means for voters is unclear. Early in-person voting began April 7. Absentee ballots have been in circulation for weeks. Any ballot already cast for the Hill ticket lists Moats as her lieutenant governor candidate — and Ohio’s ballot-printing deadlines for the May 5 primary have long since passed.
Hill and Moats announced their joint ticket on Jan. 8 and filed their candidacy paperwork together on Feb. 3. Moats, a retired U.S. Air Force major who served three deployments to the Middle East, owns a tree service and stars in the Prime Video and YouTube reality series “Unstable Lumberjacks.”
Hill, 49, is a Morgan County businesswoman and former Morgan Local School District board president. She has centered her long-shot campaign on abolishing Ohio’s property tax, parents’ rights in education, and keeping tax breaks away from data centers. She briefly considered leaving the Republican Party in August 2025 before ultimately remaining in the GOP primary.
Ramaswamy, running with Ohio Senate President Rob McColley, is the race’s front-runner with endorsements from President Donald Trump and Gov. Mike DeWine. Putsch is running alongside Warren County Republican Central Committee member Kim Georgeton.
Former state health director Dr. Amy Acton is running unopposed in the Democratic primary.
